I was told that The Chinese said they would bury me by the Western Lake and build a shrine to my memory. I have some slight regret that this did not happen, as I might have become a god, which would have been very chic for an atheist.

Bad philosophers may have a certain influence; good philosophers, never.

This idea of weapons of mass extermination is utterly horrible and is something which no one with one spark of humanity can tolerate.

Only in thought is man a God; in action and desire we are the slaves of circumstance.

Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake.

Every increase in knowledge requires an increase in wisdom

Human nature is so constructed that it gives affection most readily to those who seem least to demand it.